Degenero
by Mythical Blue
Summary: A story of friendship, grief, love, trust, misunderstanding, and death. Of how even the best kind of people falter in the face of overwhelming pain. None can avoid making mistakes. There is little that can not be forgiven. Complete
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

AN: This has been posted before, but on the advice of some of my reviewers, I'm cutting it down into more user friendly sized chapters.

Degenero:

She woke grudgingly, her shoulders being shaken. Disorientated, she was unsure of where she was, until the ache in her neck and back told her of the down side of sleeping in the library. Blinking, she opened her eyes to find herself staring into a pair of dark green ones, framed by ginger lashes. Shrugging of his now still hands, she wiped her grainy eyes. "What do you want?" she demanded.

"Shh, what are you doing here so late? You're lucky I found you and not Filch." Now fully awake, she spotted the Gryffindor crest on his robes, and just above it, the Head Boy badge.

"I'm allowed," she snapped. "I have a pass, see." She dug the small piece of parchment out of her pocket and thrust it at him. 

It didn't take him long to read, all it said was that she was found, after hours, in the library, or corridors linking the library to the Ravenclaw common room, then she wasn't to be punished. It was signed by Professor Dumbledore. "How'd you get one of these?"

"Professor Dumbledore gave it to me." He might have been two years older than she was, but it was late, she was tired, her back hurt from sleeping slumped over a table, and she was in no mood to be polite. "What time is it?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"1am," was the reply. "I'm sure even the Ravenclaw dorms are more comfortable to sleep in than these chairs."

"Mm hmm." She was to busy trying to get her books together to pay much attention to what he was saying. Silently he helped her gather together her pieces of parchment, and, when she was finally organised, followed her out of the room. Opening the door, they walked right into Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, and seconds later Filch himself joined them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he asked, leering, drool escaping from the corner of his mouth.

Anahid drew herself up, ignoring the protests from her neck and back, standing straight, she somehow managed to look down at Filch, although she only came up to his nose. "You know very well what's going on here." She said, voice perfectly calm. "I have a pass to be here."

"He doesn't," Filch gloated, pointing at the other member of the group.

"No, but he doesn't need one. He's supposed to make sure students don't break the rules, he is the Head Boy after all."

"That doesn't give him permission to be out at this hour." Filch snarled.

"Yes it does," she replied calmly. "Now, don't you have something important to be doing?" She arched one black eyebrow at him. 

Filch slunk off, muttering to himself, Mrs Norris at his heels. Anahid smiled to herself, turned and walked back to the Ravenclaw common room; oblivious to the Head Boy staring incredulously at her back, and looking somewhat impressed.

```*```*```*```

Anahid didn't get much more sleep that night. On entering the common room she found one of the first-year boys curled up on a couch, crying quietly. The school year had begun only two days before, and some of the first-years were beginning to realise just how far from home they were. The added stresses of being a muggle-born had added to this particular boy's missing of home. After consoling him, and explaining the many joys of attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she had crept into bed for a scant few hours more sleep.

```*```*```*```

Anahid was glad it was Friday when she woke the next morning, it meant that the next day was Saturday, which always meant the opportunity for a sleep-in. She was also glad she was the only Ravenclaw girl in the fifth-year, it meant a bathroom to herself.

```*```*```*```

It was looking like being a very ordinary day, until she was stopped after lunch. A hand grabbed her arm as she was headed to her Arithmancy classroom. Turning, she found herself staring into the same green eyes as the night before, or, more correctly, earlier that morning.

"What do you want now?" she sighed, too tired to pull away.

"I wanted to thankyou for getting Filch off my back last night." He scrubbed a hand through his longish, red hair. Looking slightly embarrassed, he added, "First week of school and the Head Boy almost had detention."

"Don't mention it." Anahid told him, "Ever."

He looked at her with wide-eyed surprise. "Can't I at least know your name?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Call it grateful curiosity. I want to know the name of the girl who stood up to Filch like that." He smiled at her.

"Fine, but only because I'm going to be late, and this will stop you from bothering me any more." She rubbed her eyes with one hand, so missed his bewildered expression. "My name is Anahid Black. Goodbye." She spun on her heel, and disappeared before he could recover himself.

```*```*```*```

Bill Weasley was confused. Not only that, he was confused about being confused. One minute he thought he was helping an overly studious Ravenclaw avoid detention, the next he was dealing with what appeared to be Sirius Black's fifteen year old sister.

The story of how Sirius Black had betrayed the man who was supposed to be his best friend was well known in the wizarding world, it having occurred only five years earlier. And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Bill added to himself.

That the dark haired girl who had talked Filch out of giving him a detention was related to that monster was more than a little difficult for him to swallow. He could still see her, as she has been when he had entered the library the night before, slumped over a table, an ink smear on one cheek, books and papers spread out around her. He had shaken her shoulders gently until her eyes had opened. Her eyes, he smiled to himself, he'd never seen eyes quite that dark a shade of blue before. Then this afternoon, she'd seemed so certain that after she had told him her name he wouldn't want anything more to do with her. Which brought him back to his problem, she was Sirius Black's sister.

A small voice snapped him out of his reverie. He had been pacing the entrance hall, having given up on trying to think clearly in the Gryffindor common room, and quickly rejecting the library. Looking down he spotted the source of the voice, a boy wearing robes with the Ravenclaw crest, and looking rather nervous, was standing in front of him.

"Can I help you?" Bill asked.

"You're the Head Boy, aren't you?" the blond haired boy asked, wringing his hands.

"I certainly am. Why don't we go sit in there?" Bill gestured to the Great Hall, left empty after dinner had ended half an hour ago. The first-year (he was so small he couldn't be anything but) nodded dumbly. Once seated, at what happened to be the Ravenclaw table, Bill turned back to him. "What can I do for you?"

"I…I wanted to ask you a question. You see, my friend, Michael, he was homesick last night, and he said this nice Ravenclaw prefect found him in the common room and talked to him about it. He said that her name was Anahid, and that if I ever felt like he did, I should go talk to her. But I asked one of the big boys in the common room if they knew where she was, and he said that her brother was evil, and that she was bad news too. But Michael said she was nice, and the other prefects seem big and scary." He ended in a breathless rush, having said all of this very quickly.

Bill looked at him astonished, suddenly forced to face all of his own apprehensions and prejudices. "Well…"

"George."

"Well, George. I would say that if your friend trusts her, you should too. Just because her brother did something bad, doesn't mean she will. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Yes," George nodded, "a sister, she's four." 

"Well you wouldn't want people to treat her badly if you did something wrong, would you?" George shook his head. "Exactly, so I think you should talk to Anahid, and if, for any reason, you still want to talk to someone else, come and find me, ok?"

"Ok," he grinned, "thanks a lot mister." He jumped up off his seat.

"Bill, just call me Bill."

"Bye."

"Bye." Bill watched George race off, looking much happier than he had at the start of their conversation. "Mister indeed," he snorted, "I'm only seventeen."

Alone again, he turned has attention back to his own problem to do with the Ravenclaw prefect, only to find it solved. After all what was it his mother was always saying? 'Just because one apple is rotten, doesn't mean you have to throw out the whole basket.' He smiled to himself and headed for the library.

```*```*```*```

Anahid had just put the finishing touches on the Transfiguration essay that was due to be assigned next week, when just about the person she least expected joined her.

"What do you want?" she asked, rolling up the parchment, now that the ink was dry.

"And hello to you too." Bill replied.

"You're awfully chipper considering you're talking to the infamous Sirius Black's sister." She eyed him carefully, "that means either you've flipped your lid, or you're on something. Which is it?"

"Neither," he replied, sounding a little insulted.

"Oh, so someone put you up to this then." Anahid began packing away her quill and ink, it was Friday night, and as soon as she got rid of this guy, she was going to treat herself to a nice read of a good book. 

"No. I just came to tell you that it seems you've made quite an impression on some first-year boys."

"Really."

"Yes, they're about to make you their official confidante."

"Yippee for me. Didn't the other prefects talk them out of coming near me yet?"

All traces of Bill's grin and good humour disappeared. "Some of them tried, yes, but I had a first-year, George, come to see me, to ask whether or not he should talk to you. It seems you helped his friend last night."

"And what did you tell him?" her cool indifference was beginning to warm.

"That he should talk to you, of course. Why punish the sister for the crimes of the brother?"

"That just shows how little you know." She snapped, picking up her bag. She would do without that book tonight.

"What do you mean, I would have thought you'd be pleased." His face showed his confusion.

"Pleased? Why exactly should I be pleased? You just don't understand." She was standing now, leaning over the table, glaring at him, voice rising with every word. She had already turned to go when Madam Pince stalked over and kicked them both out.

"Help me understand then." He caught her elbow, "explain it to me."

She spun around to glare at him. "What exactly would you like me to explain? That ever since my name was read out as Black, Anahid at the sorting ceremony people have avoided me. That as the only girl in Ravenclaw in my year I was naturally chosen to be a prefect this year; although I have no friends, no one in my house will talk to me, and no one out of it knows I exist, except to whisper 'there goes Sirius Black's sister' when I pass, if they notice me at all." She paused for breath. "Do you have any idea what it is like to have to contrast every memory you have of your big brother. Who's practically the only family you have because your mother died after diving birth to you, and the biggest contribution to your childhood your father made was to hire a new nanny every time the old one quit. To have to remember crawling into his bed at night after I'd had a nightmare. To contrast the memories of the boy who spent hours cleaning up and repairing every glass thing in the kitchen. All because I'd caused them all to shatter, when I was three, because everyone was ignoring me, and no one would make me breakfast. The boy who laughed and congratulated me afterwards because it was the first magical thing I ever did. To have to contrast those memories with the knowledge that he killed three of his best friends, and a dozen innocent muggles. To know that everybody avoids you, hates you even, for something your heart refuses to accept, even though your head knows all of the facts." 

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she gasped in air at the end of her speech. Bill stared at her dumbfounded, and Anahid turned and disappeared before he could stop her.

```*```*```*```

Anahid didn't recognise the owl that pecked on her window two hours later, but the confidence, and arrogance even, with which it delivered the thick envelope, marked it as a school owl. She didn't recognise the handwriting that wrote her name so smoothly across the envelope's front. She opened the envelope carefully, trying not to rip it; it was an old habit she had picked up somewhere, she refused to acknowledge the voice that whispered it was something she had done with the letters Sirius had sent her when he was away at school.

The envelope open, she pulled out a thick wad of paper. Unfolding the sheets of slightly yellow parchment revealed a letter written in forest green ink, that ran over five sides. Mystified still to the identity of the sender, she turned to the bottom of the last page. Printed at the end of the letter was Bill Weasley, and stamped under it, Head Boy, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For the first time she realised that she hadn't known the identity of the young man that she had spent more time talking to in the last day, than with almost any other in her time at the school.

```*```*```*```

An hour, and three readings of the letter later, Anahid had decided something. Either he was the nicest guy she had met since Sirius had brought Remus Lupin home, or he wasn't quite all there. Either way it looked like, despite all of her best efforts, she had made a friend. 

She refolded the letter, placed it back into its envelope, and slipped it carefully into her desk drawer next to all of Remus's.

```*```*```*```

Despite Bill's Head Boy duties and Anahid's role as Official Confidante to all of Ravenclaw's first-year boys, and some of the girls; as well as her determination to spend at least two hours a night studying. That she would on occasion be 'busy' and not explain to him where she had been, and the fact that they were in separate houses; they managed to spend an awful lot of time together in the next months. 

Bill introduced her to his younger brother Charlie, a sixth-year and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and even convinced her to attend the first game of the season, Gryffindotr versus Slytherin. He dragged her down to Hogsmeade during the school visit to the village on Halloween, ignoring her protests that she had study to do, or that she didn't need to go. They spent the morning browsing the shops, and the afternoon in a warm corner of the Three Broomsticks, with mugs of Butterbeer. 

Anahid got Bill to study, rather than buying his excuses about Head Boy duties that he had to do, though he was known to open a book on occasion. She also had to deal with new kinds of rumours about her. Despite everything, the friendship flourished and a nervous Anahid was happier than she had been for a long time. 

But, it was a friendship and a friendship only; as she was quick to point out to anyone who asked her how she had managed to 'snag' the Head Boy, being two years younger than him, in a different house, and rather plain looking, excluding her somewhat unusual eye colour. She had mentioned Bill in her letters to Remus, along with everything else that was going on in her life, and included her annoyance of people insisting they were a couple, although she denied it. Remus made supportive comments, and mentioned his pleasure that she had found a friend. 

Anahid's feeling that things were getting too good to be true were added to when Bill invited her to spend Christmas at the Burrow.

```*```*```*```

"I don't think it's such a good idea, besides I've got lots of study to do, O.W.L.s are at the end of the year after all."

"Nonsense," Bill replied. "You don't need to study twenty-four hours a day you know. A break will do you good, and you can study at the Burrow if you feel like you must."

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" she sighed.

"I already told Mum you would come." He told her with a grin. For that she cast a Jelly Legs Jinx on him, and put his wand at the other end of the library.

```*```*```*```

Although she didn't tell Bill, or even mention it to Remus in the letter she sent him telling him that she would be spending her first Christmas away form Hogwarts since starting school, Anahid was scared. Hell, she was terrified. Bill had told her about his family, so she thought she had some idea of what to expect, and although Bill hadn't told them of her kinship to Sirius, she was sure they would figure it out. Not to mention that her own home life hadn't exactly prepared her for a real family Christmas.

```*```*```*```

AN: Please R&R, any comments would be appreciated. The next Chapter will be up soon, where in we see Christmas Weasley style, and Anahid does a runner.


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

The train ride back to King's Cross was largely uneventful. She had chosen not to sit in the two Prefect compartments, and had instead selected one at the rear of the train. Bill had joined her there, though he spent most of his time elsewhere. Charlie had also started off in the same compartment and left. 

By the time the train pulled into Platform nine and three quarters Anahid was sure an entire swarm of butterflies had somehow found their way into her stomach. Only by remembering that she had visited Madam Pomfrey the day before, and taken her potion then, did Anahid realise her shaking hands were also due to nerves, it was an oddly comforting thought. 

Bill and Charlie rejoined her as the train approached the station, and Anahid put her book away. The butterflies suddenly seemed to want nothing else but to escape her body by the quickest means possible. 

The train came to a halt in a hiss of steam. Everyone disembarked in a rush to find parents and begin their holiday. Bill took Anahid's bag before she could get it herself, and led her through the throng, Charlie close behind.

Mrs Weasley was easy to spot in the crowd, as she also possessed the red hair that was typical of the Weasley family. Charlie spotted her first and pointed her out to his brother. Anahid struggled to keep up with their longer legs, and soon gave up completely. Bill's height and hair colour meant she would be able to spot him in the crowd if they were separated.

Bill's height and faster pace meant he was able to pass through the crowd with greater speed than the more diminutive Anahid. Because of this, he had greeted his mother, noticed Anahid was missing, and begun searching the crowd for her, by the time she caught up with them. With a grin, and what sounded suspiciously like a relieved sigh, Bill turned and introduced Anahid to his mother. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Weasley." Anahid said politely.

"Call me Molly, dear. It's nice to finally meet you, Bill's mentioned you in his letters, but with so few specifics, I hardly knew what to expect." Mrs Weasley greeted her with a warm smile. "Now, we'd better get moving. We're flooing from the Leaky Cauldron, and I've left your father with the little ones."

"He was afraid you'd changed your mind and done a runner." Charlie whispered in her ear as they walked. "And he'd only lost sight of you for a few minutes. How'd you manage to turn him into a nervous wreck in a couple of months, when I've been trying for sixteen years, and failed?" 

Anahid was only sure he was joking after she saw his grin. Clearly, this family was going to take some getting used to.

```*```*```*```

The Burrow was a flurry of activity when she stepped out of the fireplace. Dusting the soot off her coat, everywhere Anahid looked there seemed to be another red haired body.

"You get used to it pretty quick." Bill said from where he was standing next to her. "Come one, I'll show you where you're staying, then introduce you to the hordes."

Stomach still a little queasy from nerves and the floo trip, Anahid could only smile weakly.

```*```*```*```

Once she was sat down with a cup of tea (lemon, no milk or sugar) and had been introduced in a manner of speaking to ten year old Percy, the eight year old twins Fred and George, six year old Ron, and five year old Ginny; Anahid began to feel a little more comfortable. Mr Weasley, Arthur he insisted she call him, was nice enough. And when he found out that her father was a muggle pressed her for information as well as offering to show her his collection of muggle artefacts. 

It was Charlie noticing Anahid's bemused, and somewhat overwhelmed, expression that opened up the can of worms she had hoped to keep closed until the first day of her visit was over at least. He had commented, after Molly had ordered Arthur to stop badgering her, that this was somewhat different to her own home.

"Yes," she agreed. "The manor is nothing like this."

"Manor?" Molly asked politely.

"Yes, Orion Manor. Anahid's mother was Persephone Orion." Bill answered for her.

"This really is different then." Charlie commented dryly.

"I guess," Anahid responded, "but in a good way. This is warm and inviting. Sirius said the manor was different before Mum died, but I've always known it to be empty and cold." 

Around her four Weasleys choked on their tea. Anahid's eyes widened as she realised what she had done. Without another word she took off, through the door and up the stairs before anyone else could move.

A hurried discussion took place in the room after she had left, she didn't hear any of it as she snatched up her bag and raced back down the stairs. She was already out the front door when she heard her name being called. She wouldn't have stopped if she hadn't recognised the voice as being Bill's.

"Where are you going?" he asked, catching up to her.

"Don't worry, I'll catch a bus back to London, and from there a train back to school." She told him, rubbing her hands together in the chill air. "I'll be fine."

"But, why?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Because…look…I know you invited me for the whole holidays, but I won't hold you to a promise you don't want to keep."

"I want you to stay."

"But they won't," she said gesturing at the house.

"What do you know about what they want?" he was getting angry now.

"Because no one wants Sirius Black's sister around." Her tone was matter of fact, defeated.

"Back to that again?" he stormed, "Why don't you just get over it?"

"Because no one else will." She replied, tears brimming, she always cried more around him for some reason. "I hope I didn't ruin your holiday, or your Christmas."

She turned to go; Bill grabbed her shoulder. "The only thing that would ruin my Christmas is if you leave." He whispered fiercely in her ear.

Blinking furiously Anahid lifted his hand off her shoulder and walked away.

```*```*```*```

Bill closed the door behind him. He had watched Anahid walk away until she had disappeared around a corner. He walked back to where his parents and Charlie were sitting, trying to look like they had been drinking tea and chatting idly, rather than waiting anxiously for his return.

"Well?" Charlie asked.

"She's going to catch a bus back to London, then a train to school." Bill's voice was quiet.

"Why? Didn't you tell her she could stay, that we wanted her to stay?" Charlie again.

"Yes, bloody hell, I tried to convince her, she wouldn't listen. She just kept going on about no one wanting Sirius Black's sister around, and that she hoped she hadn't ruined Christmas." He sank in to a chair.

Charlie was up in a flash, with a quick "Dad, I'm borrowing the car," he was gone, the back door slamming behind him.

```*```*```*```

Anahid was freezing by the time she got to the bus stop, and regretting leaving in such a hurry she forgot her coat. She checked the board, and was relieved to find she could catch a bus to London in forty-five minutes, now if only she could avoid turning into an ice block in the mean time. Minutes after she had sat down however, she was joined by Charlie.

"Come to abuse me have you?" she asked. "Couldn't you wait until school was back?"

"No," he replied. "I've come to find out how anyone as stupid as you got into Ravenclaw."

"What?" Anahid spluttered.

"Well, the way I see it is this. My brother likes you, for reasons unknown, although you seem nice enough. Anyway, you're the first girl he's ever brought home for Christmas, and you want to split."

"Because your family can't possibly-"

"Don't tell me about my family." He cut her off. "Now granted, Sirius Black is known for doing some pretty despicable things, but that's no reason for us to treat you any differently. That'd be like people blaming Gin for something I'd done."

"You and Bill are pretty close, aren't you?" Anahid asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Charlie replied, not sure where that had come from, "why?"

"Because you're both equally as stupid." Charlie stared at her. "You think I just made this up to be difficult? People have judged me for the last five years because of what he did. Now you want me to believe that your family is just going to forget that, is going to act unlike practically every wizard I've ever met."

"Yes." Anahid's eyes widened with surprise. "Because we don't care that he's your brother, all we care about is that Bill likes you. Come home, give us a chance."

"Why?"

"Because you don't have anything to lose, if you want, tomorrow you can floo back to-"

"No." She cut him off. "Why are you all being so nice to me?"

"Because you seem nice enough, Bill likes you, and everyone deserves a chance." He stood up and beckoned her with a hand. "Come home, for Bill if nothing else."

"Alright," she smiled weakly. "Thanks for…"

"Don't mention it. Let's get back where it's warm."

"Sounds good to me."

```*```*```*```

Bill jumped up off his seat when he heard the car pull into the driveway. He ran to the back door, almost tripping over a twin in the process. His smile split his face when he saw Anahid get out of the car.

"Here," Charlie said as he handed him Anahid's bag.

"Thanks." Bill replied, unable to take his eyes off the darkhaired girl, for fear she would disappear again.

"Just add it to the list." His brother told him, patting his back as he passed.

"I'm sorry." Anahid apologised as she reached him, "I guess I overreacted." 

"No, you reacted just like you could have been expected to, under the circumstances."

Bill took her bag up to her room, she was sharing with Ginny, while Anahid went to find Arthur and Molly and apologise to them.

"Don't worry about it dear." Molly told her when she tracked her down to the kitchen.

Anahid nodded. "Can I help?" she asked nervously.

"Of course, that book there, the one with the green cover. There's a chocolate cake, page two hundred and something." Molly gestured at a shelf lined with books on the wall behind Anahid. "If you could make that, it'd be a big help."

Half an hour later dinner was ready. Anahid, seated between Bill and Percy, was about to encounter another stage in the Weasley experience. Her trip and Sirius weren't mentioned for the rest of her stay.

```*```*```*```

Later that night, as she held a drowsy Ginny for Molly, who was busy putting Ron to bed, Anahid turned to Bill who was sitting on a chair near her own, reading the Daily Prophet, and asked him, "Why do you like me?"

Bill just looked at her for a moment before he replied, "Because I find you intriguing."

"Intriguing? Meaning what?"

"Meaning to arouse the curiosity or interest of." He answered, studying the paper.

"Bill." She arched one black eyebrow at him.

"Alright, because you're different. Because you have brains, and you use them. Because you stand up for yourself, and can make even Filch back down. Because you're stubborn, pig-headed, high-strung, and overly emotional." Anahid opened her mouth to protest. "Careful, don't wake up Ginny." He stood, and seizing the opportunity of an Anahid with both hands full and no wand in sight, reached over and ruffled her hair. "G'night kid." He said with a wink and disappeared through the door.

```*```*```*```

Bill fully expected to wake up the next morning missing several appendages after his 'kid' comment, or at least to have lost the use of a couple. So, when he got out of bed in perfect working order, he was suspicious. Anahid acting perfectly normally only added to his distrust. 

After breakfast Charlie suggested building snowmen with the younger ones, which Bill and Anahid agreed to, and which Molly appeared grateful for.

An hour later, four impressive snowmen had been made, fingers were cold, noses red, and Charlie had taken the kids inside for some Hot Chocolate. There had still been no retaliation form Anahid, and Bill had decided she was going to let the taunt slide. That's when the snowball hit him in the back of his head. He spun around, but there was no sign of Anahid. Another snowball hit him, again in the back of the head, this time form the opposite direction, and again, with no sign of Anahid. Then four hit him, one on each side of his head, and he heard giggling coming from behind the line of snowmen. Crouched in the snow, wand in hand, a pile of ready to fire snowballs beside her, Anahid had collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"I suppose you think this is funny?" he asked, in the most dignified voice he could muster while melting snow trickled down his face. "There's snow down my neck now!"

"Sorry…sorry." She managed to get herself under control. "But I guess that's what you'd expect from a kid." She stood up and walked past him to the house, "And Bill, don't even think about it." He crushed the snowball he had picked up between his hands.

Running, he caught up with her as she hung up her scarf and coat. "You don't laugh enough." He said quietly.

"Sorry, I didn't realise there was a quota." She replied, pushing past him into the kitchen.

"You know what I meant," he said, following her. 

"Maybe I don't have as much to laugh about as you do." She replied, pouring a cup of tea from the kettle on the stove. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have study to do."

Only Anahid, he thought, could go from giggling to chastising in less than a minute.

```*```*```*```

Anahid spent the rest of the morning sitting on her bed reading. Charlie brought her a sandwich at lunchtime, and sat himself at the foot of the bed.

"Was there something you wanted?" she asked over the top of her book, A Detailed History of Summoning Charms. 

"I was just wondering something."

"Wondering what?" she marked her place with her finger, this could still turn out to be a short discussion.

"Well, I sort of know why Bill likes you, but what does a smart girl like yourself like about him?" he was looking straight at her, and Anahid suddenly realised that life would be very difficult in this house if he didn't like you.

"What's not to like?" she responded, trying to be flippant.

"Plenty, so how about telling me what you do like."

"Fine." She sighed finding her bookmark. The rest of chapter seventeen would have to wait. "Why do I like Bill? Well, he's smart; he's nice, he doesn't try to charm people. He doesn't judge, oh, and his eyes. I like his eyes. They're warm and friendly, I've lost count of the number of times I've woken up to those eyes."

Charlie choked. "What?"

"Well, you see, I have this nasty habit of falling asleep in the library late at night, I have a pass that lets me stay in there longer than usual. Anyway, I have this habit of falling asleep, and your brother often comes out late at night, to make sure I haven't fallen asleep in there or wake me up if I have. That's how we first met actually, I'd dosed off and he woke me up." She looked across at Charlie's face, and with feigned innocence asked, "Why, what did you think I meant?" she smiled and he laughed.

Leaving, he paused at the door. "You're not half bad, Ana, not half."

```*```*```*```

The remaining days until Christmas passed in a blur of cooking, snow, smiles, and laughter for Anahid. She finished chapter seventeen, but chapters eighteen through forty-seven had to wait longer than expected. 

```*```*```*```

Christmas Eve arrived, and Bill and Charlie proved how ageless the season was by getting right into the spirit of things. The twins seemed to have discovered everywhere Mistletoe had been hung, and waited there for Anahid to pass. She just smiled, kissed the cheek of the particular twin, and ruffled his hair. The tree had been bought and decorated, and everywhere symbols of the season abounded. 

It was late afternoon when Bill tracked Anahid down to the kitchen; she was helping Molly finish preparations for dinner the next day. Bill, already wearing his, handed her her coat, scarf and gloves.

"Are we going somewhere?" she asked.

"Yes, and before you raise that eyebrow at me, let me explain." Anahid crossed her arms, but didn't interrupt. "We're going to Diagon Alley to see the window decorations."

"What's so great about Diagon Alley's windows?"

"The decorations, they're beautiful." Molly explained. "You two go and have fun."

"Come on." Bill helped her into her coat, and practically dragged her to the fireplace. "Ladies first." He said, holding out the floo powder.

Anahid eyed him suspiciously, but took the proffered powder, tossed a pinch into the fire, called "Diagon Alley," and stepped into the flames.

```*```*```*```

At the other end of the short, but nauseating, journey Anahid dusted the soot from her clothes and waited for Bill to appear.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he said with a grin.

"Are you on drugs?"

"No. Now shall we have a drink now, or look at the displays first?" 

"The displays," Anahid answered quickly. "Before it gets too cold." Bill just smiled.

```*```*```*```

They walked up one side of the Alley, then down the other, marvelling at the different scenes and decorations in the windows; even Gringotts had got in the spirit.

"Oh, you know what," Bill said suddenly, "I need to get more wrapping paper. I'll just be a minute." He headed off in the direction of the Wizarding Stationery shop.

"Don't mind me," Anahid called after him. "I'll be in Flourish and Blotts." Bill turned and gave a thumbs-up sign, With a sigh and a shake of her head; Anahid headed for the bookstore.

```*```*```*```

She had flicked through several different books when Bill caught up with her again, a bag obviously holding several rolls of wrapping paper over his arm. 

"All set?" he asked, walking over to her, no easy task in the throng of last minute shoppers.

"Uh huh." She replied. They both turned to go, and were walking towards the door, when a call caused Anahid to turn around. Looking for the source, she spotted the shop's manager coming towards her.

"Miss Anahid." He exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you here until next summer."

"Hello," Anahid returned his greeting with a smile. "You look busy tonight."

"It's our busiest season, except for the autumn return to school of course."

"Of course."

"The reason I said hello was that the books you ordered have arrived. I was going to send them to you care of Hogwarts, like I usually do, but you can have them now if you like."

"If you're sure that it's not too much trouble, that would be wonderful."

"Just let me find them for you, follow me." He led them to the rear of the store. Rummaging sounds were heard from the storeroom at the back, then came a triumphant "aha." He rejoined them, a large package in his arms. "Here you go," he said, handing it to Anahid. "Charmed feather light of course. I'll put it on your tab shall I?"

"Please," Anahid replied. "Thankyou, and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," he called after them, as he was lost in the crowd.

"You have a tab at the bookstore?" Bill asked as they walked down the slightly less crowded Alley. 

"Of course, it's what we bookworms do." She replied smoothly. "Now I believe someone said something about a drink earlier, I'm freezing."

With a laugh Bill led the way back to the Leaky Cauldron.

```*```*```*```

Only Charlie was still up when they got back to the Burrow, after having dinner and a walk through muggle London.

"Have fun?" he asked from the table where he was doing some last minute present wrapping. 

"Yes." Anahid answered, "Bit cold though."

"Here," Bill tossed a roll of wrapping paper to his brother, who was trying to stretch the last of his to cover the rest of his presents.

"Thanks." He smothered a yawn, "What time is it anyway?" 

"Half past ten." Bill answered with a glance at his watch.

"That late?" Anahid asked surprised. "I'm going to bed, night boys."

"Night." They called after her.

"Worth while trip was it?" Charlie asked, trying to get a book perfectly positioned in the centre of the paper. 

"Just what do you mean by that?" Bill demanded.

"Well, you know, did you have fun?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact we did, but not the kind you're getting at. We're friends Charlie, nothing more. G'night."

"Night." Charlie reached for the Spellotape, and murmured to himself, "There's no need to sound so disappointed about it."

```*```*```*```

Christmas morning dawned bright and clear, with a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. Anahid woke early, as most do on Christmas morning, and was up and dressed in time to add her order to the tea that Bill was making for him and Charlie. They managed to resist the temptation to search the mound of presents for tags with their names on for the half-hour before the rest of the family was up. Bill and Charlie spent it playing Wizard's Chess, Anahid simply watched; she freely admitted Chess was a game she was total rubbish at.

With everyone present, the unwrapping could commence, and while the twins had to be restrained from simply diving in and tearing paper, regardless of the name on the tag, opening presents is always an enjoyable way of spending a morning. Anahid had brought presents for everyone, but was surprised to find numerous gifts were her name on. Including the expected one from Bill, there was also a parcel from Charlie, a couple from Molly and Arthur, and somehow Remus's had found it's way into the pile beneath the tree.

That afternoon, after dinner, the twins, Ron, Ginny, and Percy were playing with their new toys. Anahid had helped Molly clean up the piles of discarded paper from around the tree, and was now curled up on the couch next to Bill, reading her Summoning Charms book. She hadn't received a single book for Christmas, which surprised her a little; her father hadn't sent her a present, which didn't surprise her at all. 

Instead of books she had gotten, from Charlie a box of sugar quills (her favourite), from Molly, Arthur and the rest of the family, a Jumper (dark blue, which Charlie told her meant she was practically part of the family), and a box of homemade chocolate. Remus had sent her a rather long letter and some new ink. Bill though had given her her most treasured gift of them all; a thin, plain, band of silver that fitted perfectly around the third finger of her right hand.

```*```*```*```

AN: Please R&R, any comments are appreciated. The next Chapter will be up soon, where in they return to Hogwarts, and more secrets are revealed.


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

All too soon for Bill, Charlie, and Anahid, the holidays drew to a close. Bags were packed, farewells said, and floo powder taken in hand.

The train ride back to Hogwarts was similar to the one they had taken only a short time before. They sat in a compartment at the rare of the train. Charlie left to find his friends, people who would talk Quidditch with him. Bill didn't leave though, instead he sat in the seat opposite Anahid's, writing in a leather bound book with a self-inking quill, and occasionally glancing across at Anahid, who had made it up to chapter twenty-eight of 'A Detailed History of Summoning Charms.' She sat reading, twisting the silver band that enclosed the base of the third finger of her right hand.

"Is it too tight?" he asked finally, an hour into their journey.

"Hmm, oh no." She looked across at him, "Just something to fidget with I guess." Bill nodded and went back to writing. "What are you doing?" she asked a few minutes later. "Don't tell me Bill Weasley is actually doing homework."

"No," he replied. "I'm writing in my journal." 

"The Head Boy has a diary?" Anahid asked, teasing.

"No," he frowned at her. "It's a journal. Only twelve year old girls have diaries." 

"Of course 'journal' makes it sound so much more manly." He scowled at her. "Don't you have some Head Boy duties to do?"

"You're just trying to get rid of me."

"Oh dear, you mean I'm that transparent?" 

Bill made a show of putting the small book into the pocket of his robes before he left; Anahid just rolled her eyes at him. Marvelling in being alone, truly alone, for the first time in weeks, Anahid was surprised to find it wasn't as comforting as it had once been.

```*```*```*```

Bill returned from his inspection of the other compartments, and the fulfilment of his Head Boy duties, to find Anahid curled up and fast asleep. Her book, closed, in one hand, dangerously close to slipping to the floor. Carefully he took it out of her loose grip, and placed it in a safe position at the end of her seat. 

Shortly after, the snack trolley came to the compartment door, and Bill, after selecting some lunch for himself and being loathe to disturb Anahid, discovered he didn't know her as completely as he thought. Standing, inspecting the wide range of goods the trolley held, he had no idea what she normally chose, or even what she liked. Finally, he went with the safe choices of a cauldron cake, a pumpkin pastry, and a chocolate frog. 

When she woke, Anahid turned down only the frog; saying she couldn't eat something that was still moving. She thanked him for the other food; her offer to repay him for it was declined.

```*```*```*```

Back at Hogwarts, they quickly slipped back into their old routine. But life wasn't as idyllic as it first appeared. All relationships have rough points, and theirs was about to hit one hell of a rough patch.

```*```*```*```

With the pressure of knowing the year was half over, and exams only six months away, both Bill and Anahid were on edge when classes resumed. Both had been working hard when everything exploded in late February, and were tired and grumpy as many people get in the face of approaching exams and while waiting for winter to end. Given how their friendship had started it was fitting that the event that lit the fuse occurred late one night in the library.

```*```*```*```

It was Friday night and Anahid had forgotten to do one of those things that she never quite explained to Bill. She was more tired than usual, and was struggling to pay attention to what Bill was telling her; which made perfect sense, if you knew what it was she had forgotten to do.

Madam Pomfrey found the two of them there, Bill doing most of the talking, and Anahid struggling to follow the conversation. "There you are dear, I thought I'd find you here." She said as she walked across to where they were sitting.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Anahid turned to look at her, "what…oh no, I forgot, I'm sorry, I was…and…I just forgot." Bill didn't understand the total panic that enveloped her.

"Don't worry dear, you can come down now and we'll take care of it. It's not the first time I've tracked you down to here, and I doubt it'll be the last." Madam Pomfrey said, trying to soothe her. Anahid just nodded and stood to leave immediately.

"Wait Anahid, you're forgetting your bag." Bill handed the offending object to her. "What's this all about anyway?"

"Hmm," she looked back at him as if she had just woken from a dream. "Oh, nothing, just a checkup, you know, with all the end of season colds and things out and about. I'll see you in the morning." 

With that she positively fled the room, and for the first time Bill felt for sure she wasn't telling him the truth, or was at least hiding it in ambiguity.

```*```*```*```

The next morning he called into the Hospital Wing on his way to breakfast, to see if Anahid was still there. 

"Yes, she's still here," Madam Pomfrey told him. "But she's not up to seeing visitors."

Not up to seeing visitors after only a checkup? Bill was very suspicious now.

```*```*```*```

Anahid woke up on the Hospital Wing that afternoon, Saturday, to find Bill sitting beside her bed. "We have to stop meeting like this." She said with a weak smile.

Bill didn't smile back. "Explain." He said coolly.

"Explain what?" she asked, wincing at his tone, while levering herself to sit up in the bed.

"Explain why last night Madam Pomfrey came looking for you for a 'checkup,' something she apparently does quite often. Explain how, you came here for a checkup, but this morning Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let me in because you 'weren't up to visitors.'" He had stood up at the start of his speech, and paced the floor. Now he stood, hands resting on the foot of her bed, glaring at her.

"I can't." She said weakly.

Bill couldn't believe it, he'd expected a simple logical explanation delivered in a voice, calm and quiet, that made him feel ashamed for losing control. "Why not?" he asked, voice deathly quiet.

"I just, can't." She stared at her hands resting in her lap, unable to look at him.

"I see, is that because you don't know, or because you just don't feel like telling me." Anahid opened her mouth to answer but Bill talked right over her. "No, don't bother, I think I know which it is." He stalked out of the room, leaving her fighting back tears.

```*```*```*```

Girls throughout the school rejoiced at what appeared to be the end of the Head Boy's association with 'that Black girl.' Anahid seemed to be coping, but then she had learned to hide her emotions and feelings long ago. 

Charlie was amazed at the change between Anahid and Bill. In the two months since Christmas he'd sought Anahid out occasionally, seeking to get to know this good friend of Bill's better. Now, after the end of the friendship, he could see the pain in her eyes.

Bill refused to talk about her, or listen to anyone else talk about her. He stormed away whenever the ending of the friendship was mentioned.

```*```*```*```

Before Charlie could talk to Anahid about it though, her life took another turn for the worst. During dinner, barely a week after the incident in the Hospital Wing, Professor McGonagall approached her at the Ravenclaw table, and led her away. As soon as the doors had closed behind her whispers broke out around the hall. Charlie glanced at Bill; he was steadfastly gazing at his plate, ignoring everyone around him.

```*```*```*```

Professor McGonagall led Anahid to Professor Dumbledore's office. Following the Deputy Headmistress into the room, Anahid found that already seated there were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, and Madam Pomfrey. Confused, and scared, she took the seat Professor Dumbledore gestured to.

"Now Anahid, I'm afraid I have some bad news." Professor Dumbledore clasped his hands in front of him and looked across at her through his half-moon spectacles. "Your father passed away this morning."

Anahid stared at him in shock, surprised by the news, but surprised more by the sharp pain that had started in her chest and coursed through the rest of her being.

The Professor looked at her sadly as he continued. "He left you his entire estate, and I'm going to recommend to the Ministry that, despite you being underage, you not be sent to a muggle orphanage during the holidays."

Anahid was barely listening to him. She saw his lips move, and heard the words, but couldn't comprehend any of it. He was still talking when she stood and walked out of the room, Madam Pomfrey made to follow, but Professor Dumbledore stooped her. 

"Leave her be." He said softly, "She has a lot to deal with right now."

```*```*```*```

She didn't realise she was crying until the salty liquid ran over her lips. She had walked mindlessly after leaving the office, somehow coming to be at the lakeside. She collapsed onto her knees then, ignoring the chill of the ground like she ignored the bite of the wind on her cloakless shoulders. She broke down sobbing, drawing in huge gulps of air, only to choke them out again. The sky darkened but, face in hands, Anahid didn't notice. It had been overcast all day, and with nightfall came the rain, closer to solid than liquid, the chill drops pounded the ground, soaking everything, Anahid included. She ignored the rain as she ignored the icy ground, or the biting wind, not consciously trying to outdo it, but surrounded in a pain-filled abyss, totally unaware.

```*```*```*```

She wasn't sure what happened next, how she came to wake in the Hospital Wing four days later after a run in with Hypothermia. Madam Pomfrey scolded her for being so careless, but the lecture had no heart to it. The Nurse seemed more relieved that Anahid was still alive. Anahid, still in her own world, managed to nod along with her. Not even a redheaded visitor cheered her up.

Charlie visited on the day after Anahid woke. "What were you thinking?" he admonished her. "Out there like that, you could have died Ana."

Anahid stared at him blankly. "So?" she asked finally.

"So? So what do you think that would have done to the rest of us, your friends? What were you thinking Ana?"

Again that blank look followed eventually by an answer in that dead, emotionless voice. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." A pause then, "I don't have any friends anyway."

"No friends? What about me, Bill."

"You only talk to me because Bill did. He won't talk to me because I can't tell him something." She drew in a shuddering breath. "The one person who was supposed to like me, no matter what, didn't. And now he's gone. Gone. And it hurts so much and I don't know why." Emotion finally crept into her voice and the depth of despair held in it shocked Charlie.

"Your Dad?" he asked quietly.

Anahid nodded, biting the knuckles of one hand in an effort to stifle her sobs. Charlie reached out and pulled her to him, holding her there until she had cried herself to sleep. What he did after leaving the Hospital Wing was to start one of the biggest arguments the eldest Weasley brothers had ever had.

```*```*```*```

Encountering Bill in a hallway, Charlie dragged him into an empty classroom and demanded an explanation about the events causing the breakdown of Bill's friendship with Anahid. Much yelling occurred before he got the answers he was after, and they didn't help him as much as he had hoped. 

It was clear to Charlie that the only person to get Anahid to open up and heal many of the wounds that had plagued her for years was Bill. But in order for Bill to help her this time, Charlie had to resurrect their friendship. And the only way it seemed he could do that was to confront a grief stricken girl about a secret she couldn't bring herself to share with a person who had quite probably been her closest friend. He had no idea how he was going to do it.

```*```*```*```

Anahid was kept in the Hospital Wing for another week. When she was finally let out the first person to track her down was Charlie. It had taken most of the week for him to convince himself that the conversation he had to have with her would be good for her in the long run. He had also decided that it would be best if it took place away from Madam Pomfrey's sharp gaze. Anahid didn't resist as he led her out of the library and into an empty classroom.

```*```*```*```

Bill was angry. He was angry with Charlie for bringing up something he had tried so hard to forget. He was angrier with himself for being a pig-headed prat. He should have gone and talked to her in the Hospital Wing, her dad had died, and he should have helped her with it. He was her friend after all. Never the less, he couldn't forgive her for keeping from him something that was obviously important. Giving himself a shake, he decided to take the first step and prove she could depend on him.

```*```*```*```

Headed for the library, he was looking for Anahid after all, he was surprised when she bumped right into him as she stormed out of a classroom. 

"Sorry," he apologised, backing off slightly. "Are you ok?" he asked, peering into her face, seeing the anger that flashed in her eyes.

"That brother of yours," she raged, then the anger passed and her shoulders slumped. Bill was startled to find himself staring into eyes so completely consumed with grief and pain. "I'm fine. Excuse me."

She made to step around him, but he caught her arm, "Anahid wait." She stopped, but didn't look at him, instead facing down the hall. "I'm sorry, for yelling, for not being there, for everything."

"It's not your fault." She said softly, "You deserved to know, but I couldn't do that to you Bill."

"Do what? I want to help you Anahid, you have to let me." 

She turned to look up at him, "Can this wait Bill?" she asked finally. "I'm tired, I promise to talk about this later, but right now, I'm just so tired." 

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her. Neither saw Charlie slip out of the classroom behind them.

```*```*```*```

Bill walked her back to the Ravenclaw common room that night, and every other night for sometime. The next day was Saturday, and Bill somehow managed to get permission for him and Anahid to spend the day in Hogsmeade. 

Sitting in the Three Broomsticks, they talked. Slowly Anahid started to smile again, and after consuming copious amounts of Butterbeer, they made their way back to the school. 

Neither had mentioned what had happened in the Hospital Wing the month before, or the cause of it. Anahid was happy having her friend back and didn't want to jeopardise that. Bill was too scared to push the obviously still unstable girl.

```*```*```*```

Anahid slipped away from dinner early that evening. When Bill checked for her in the library she wasn't there, and disappointed, he returned to his dormitory. 

Opening the door, he was greeted by an owl, carrying a rather large package, pecking at his window. He let the bird in, and removed the package, recognising Anahid's handwriting on the address. Curious, he untied the string binding it, and opened out the brown paper. Enclosed was a book, the title on the spine reading 'Degenero Disease, the slow killer.' Tucked into the front cover was a brief note from Anahid, simply reading

Bill,

One thing I've learnt lately is that I need to trust more, so that's what I'm doing now. Read this, when you're finished we'll discuss the argument we had last month.

Anahid

P.S. Whatever you decide to do after reading this book I accept, but please, no pity.

Bill stayed up late that night, reading the dog-eared pages of the obviously well read book. Amazed both at how hard Anahid must have worked to hide her condition, and how terrible the disease was.

What struck him first was its inconsistency, someone could be diagnosed with it and live to one hundred and twenty, or they could die at thirty. He had a feeling Anahid wouldn't be one of the former.

Then there were the ways the disease showed itself, shaking hands, failing eyesight, loss of the ability to walk, possible memory loss, as well as other less obvious signs. He couldn't recall Anahid suffering from any of these yet, and for a while he felt hope. That was dashed as he read on.

'This disease is incurable and always fatal. It is very rare, occurring only in wizards or witches, and never in muggles. It is believed to affect one in ten thousand wizards, and is more likely to affect those of pureblood than a muggle-born. However, there have been so few reported cases that these statistics could be a false representation of what is actually occurring. There is no known cure for this disease, and the lack of demand means there is little research being undertaken to find one.'

Sitting on his bed, enclosed by scarlet curtains, Bill Weasley wept.

```*```*```*```

He caught up with her in the library, the next day. He had slept fitfully, haunted by nightmares, and was late getting organised that morning. Setting the book down on the table in front of her and pulling out a chair, he sat down.

She held up a hand to stop him speaking. Finishing her page, she closed the book she had been reading; getting up, she placed it back on its shelf. "Let's take a walk." She said, picking up the book from where he had placed it on the table.

He followed her, and they walked in companionable silence until they had left the castle behind and were strolling around the lake edge. 

Finally Bill spoke. "You were afraid to tell me." It wasn't quite a question.

"Yes, I was scared of…of how you'd react I guess." She turned to look at him. "I was afraid you wouldn't want to be friends any more, or that you would pity me." 

Five steps along the path Anahid stopped and turned around, Bill was still standing where he had been when she had finished talking. "You thought I would stop being friends with you?" he asked, shocked.

Anahid walked back to stand in front of him. "You have to understand, the last seven months have been the most surreal of my life. After we became friends, I didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that, and the last thing I wanted was for you to pity me for this. After the events of the last couple of weeks though, I decided I didn't really have anything to lose, life really is to short." Tears welled up in her eyes from the ever-present pain that had taken up residence in her chest. 

"What's so bad about pity?" he asked.

"Pity is the worst thing you can feel for someone, I'd rather people hated me than pitied me."

They began walking again. 

"I read that book last night."

"I figured you had."

"Can I ask you, you know…"

"About it?" she looked across at him.

"Yeah."

"What do you want to know?"

He took a deep breath, and kept his eyes focused on the path as he spoke. "Well, the book, it listed the symptoms, and I haven't seen you suffering from any of them. So does that mean it's not very advanced, I mean, you could still have a hundred years left, couldn't you?" he looked across at her anxiously.

Anahid stared forward, clasping and unclasping her hands in front of her stomach. "No." She said quietly.

Bill's face fell, "I was afraid of that. But why not? Your hands don't even shake yet." He grasped hold of the hands in question, forcing her to stop walking and face him.

"You just can't see them." She said, pulling one hand out of his grasp, and brushed a lock of hair off his face.

"I don't understand."

"There's a potion," she explained. "It suppresses the symptoms, until the disease builds up an immunity anyway." She sighed, "That's why I go to see Madam Pomfrey once a month."

"What happens when it builds up an immunity?" Bill asked, "And how long until it does?"

"The symptoms show through, I don't know how long it'll take for the resistance to build, it depends on how fast the severity of the disease increases. You have to understand Bill; the potion does nothing to stop the disease itself. It's progressing just as quickly as if I wasn't taking the potion, you just can't tell." Bill wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Please don't pity me, that's the only thing I couldn't handle."

"Don't worry," he said gently, "I don't think pitying you would be good for my health."

Anahid laughed, which only caused her tears to fall faster. Her laughter turned to sobs and she buried her face in his shoulder. Bill wrapped his arms around her, and blinked back his own tears.

```*```*```*```

Again they slipped back into their old routine, except for a couple of changes. Firstly Bill insisted Anahid be in bed by ten pm, at the latest, which meant she had to leave the library by half past nine. Secondly, Bill went with her a week later for her monthly checkup with Madam Pomfrey.

He watched, and held Anahid's hand, as blood was taken, while Madam Pomfrey tested it, and then made up a potion strong enough to combat the next month's symptoms. There could be some unpleasant side effects from taking the potion, as the disease in her body rebelled against the drugs that would dull its impact, for the time being at least; so Madam Pomfrey always gave Anahid a sleeping potion as well. For the next four visits Anahid fell asleep with her hand clasped in Bill's larger, rougher one.

```*```*```*```

The spring term passed by quickly, too quickly for the fifth and seventh years who had O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year. Bill decided to stay at Hogwarts over the Easter break, and he and Anahid spent much of their time studying.

```*```*```*```

It was when they were taking a walk around the lake, on a study break, that Anahid asked about his plans for the next year.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "It depends on my N.E.W.T. results of course. I heard Gringotts is looking for more curse breakers, that sounds interesting. But it would mean I'd probably be working on the continent, or maybe even Egypt, so I might try for the Academy, be an Auror."

Anahid looked at him. "I know you're not thinking of passing on the curse breakers just because of me. I'm not just going to drop dead one day, it'll take much longer than that."

"I just don't want you to be alone, lonely." He sighed.

"I'll have Remus, and Charlie, until he goes of to play Quidditch or whatever, and there's the rest of your family at the Burrow. Don't worry about me, I was fine before I met you, I'll be fine after you're gone." She watched the ripples in the lake surface hit the shore.

"I'm allowed to care."

"Just don't too much," she whispered. He didn't hear her.

```*```*```*```

All of a sudden Exam week was upon them. The castle was filled with anxious students certain they would, or had, failed a particular exam. Anahid was sitting every subject except Divination and Muggle Studies, Bill had a slightly different subject list, seventh-years took a variety of more specialised courses.

Anahid had arranged revision sessions for the first and second years, something that kept her busy for a month of so before exams, and took up all of her free moments during the week itself. She had very little time to stress about her own exams and, she realised later, she spent more time worrying about Bills' exams than her own.

She didn't see much of Bill that week, or the weeks leading up to it. Like everyone else he was studying. Though not his usual calm and relaxed self, he wasn't pushing it like some. Only his continued threat to take 100 points off Ravenclaw had Anahid in bed by ten. She wasn't sure if he would find out if she continued to study in the common room, but she wasn't prepared to try her luck.

```*```*```*```

Exams finished and there was a week of lazing in the sun before results were announced. Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw to secure the Quidditch Cup, and looked set to get the House Trophy as well. The weather was fine, warm and sunny, and Anahid was granted permission by the Ministry to stay at Orion Manor, despite being underage, and avoided a muggle orphanage. All in all it was the perfect end to a very strange year, which is why it will come as no surprise that there was a kink in the sails. It wasn't about to be smooth sailing just yet.

```*```*```*```

Exam results came back, and Anahid got all of her O.W.L.s, Bill all his N.E.W.T.s, and Charlie and the first and second years Anahid had tutored all did very well. The kink occurred after that, and after the leaving ceremony where Gryffindor was awarded the House Trophy. Even after the train ride back to King's Cross, during which Anahid quite firmly informed Bill that if he thought she was going to spend all of her time writing him letters, he was very much mistaken.

"I won't have us writing pages and pages to each other about nothing, thinking we're as good friends as ever. Only to meet up and discover we have nothing to say to each other." She told him, Bill had nodded and the two had lapsed back into silence. 

No, the kink occurred after the train had stopped and everyone had unloaded themselves, and their trunks. Anahid and Bill had stood a little distance away from Charlie and Mr Weasley, and said goodbye. Anahid had invited him, and the rest of the family to the Manor, and Bill had invited her to come to the Burrow whenever she wanted. That's when it happened, what Charlie had been waiting for since Christmas, Bill kissed her. A brief, chaste pressing of his lips against hers, but it was enough to put a heck of a kink in Anahid's sails.

You see, Anahid liked Bill, loved him even if she was being honest with herself, but then she loved Charlie and Remus too. But she loved them as brothers, Bill she loved nothing like a brother. And that kiss, so different from the quick peck Charlie had given her cheek, suggested in no uncertain terms that he felt the same way about here. Which was a problem, because Bill would live to 150 easily, Anahid would be lucky to see twenty.

```*```*```*```

AN: Please R&R, any comments are appreciated. The next chapter will be up soon, where in friends leave, mistakes are made, and health deteriorates.


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

She spent the first week of the holidays at the Leaky Cauldron. She couldn't bring herself to go back to the manor. The immense marble building had always seemed cold and grim to her. Sirius's presence during the summer had always cheered the place up, made it feel like a home. But ever since Halloween five years earlier, even those memories had been tarnished, and she couldn't look back on them without a stab of guilt. Now, to go back to that place, without even the distant presence of her father, she couldn't do it.

```*```*```*```

On the fifth day of her stay in Diagon Alley, Anahid received a letter carried by an energetic young owl. The letter was from Bill, but said only that he had big news, and asked her to come to the Burrow in three days time. The afternoon of the day before her visit to the Burrow Anahid returned to the manor.

```*```*```*```

She stepped out of the grand fireplace, her footsteps echoing around the entrance hall. She set her trunk on the polished marble floor, and wandered through her house. 

She paused at the door to her father's study, oblivious to the change she had undergone, a few months ago she would have referred to him, even in her head, as Artemis Black. Hesitantly, she opened the door; she couldn't remember the last time she had been in this room.

A muggle portrait of a woman, who bore a striking resemblance to Anahid, hung above the fireplace set into the same wall as the door Anahid entered. The opposite wall was mostly taken up by a large window, which, facing west, caught the late afternoon sun. In front of the window, facing the fireplace, was a large oak desk. Anahid sat in the leather chair that stood behind it, the back of the chair loomed over her, and she glanced around guiltily before catching herself.

She stroked the polished wood surface of the desk with her hands. Gently, she fingered the pens sitting in the gold holders. A stack of parchment sat to her left, she flicked through it briefly, before turning her attention to the three drawers on each side of the desk. The top ones held nothing but spare parchment, ink, and pen nibs. The bottom two on the right hand side held account books, and other things referring to the running of the household. The middle left drawer held nothing but dust, and in the back corners long abandoned cobwebs. She didn't expect to find anything in the bottom drawer, and that too was empty, except for an envelope. It was sealed on the back with the Orion crest in black wax, her father's sign. The front bore only one word, Anahid.

Hands shaking, she used the desk's letter opener to slip under the seal, opening the letter without breaking the wax. Enclosed was a folded piece of parchment, and another sealed letter, also addressed to her, but in a different, more looping hand. She read the first letter before opening the second.

Anahid,

That you are reading this means my time has come, and I have rejoined my beloved Persephone. 

I placed this letter where I was sure your inquisitive mind was bound to look. 

I'm sorry my daughter, for the loss of my dear wife caused me such anger and pain, that I failed to see how remarkable the daughter she had given me was. 

I ask for your forgiveness, and hope death will bring us a peace neither of us had in life.

Enclosed is a letter your mother wrote to you while she carried you beneath her heart. Not in my deepest grief could I destroy it, and I give it to you now. I know not what it says, but hope it will remove from your soul some of the pain I know I put there. 

I love you my daughter, I hope only that you can forgive me the follies I made in grief that I was too stubborn to rectify in life.

Your father,

Artemis Black.

Speechless, Anahid let the letter fall to lie on the desktop. Hastily she picked up the second letter, and with great care opened it by slipping the opener under the Orion seal set in white wax. Hands still; she read the letter from the woman she loved more than any other, though she had never met her.

My dearest daughter,

Do not hold your father to blame for a blunder of his heart.

I have seen a life for you a life that does not feature me. I fear there is much grief and pain in your future. 

But remember this, life is short.

Divination is a remarkable skill, but before you can master it you must realise that you can not live in the future, sometimes you must forget what will come and dwell instead in the present.

It is the only advice I have to give you, my darling.

Your mother,

Persephone Black.

Anahid was surprised to find her cheeks were still dry when she finished her mother's letter. She couldn't see the faint spark that overcame the emptiness in her eyes, but she could feel the hollow in her chest shrink just a little. She reread both letters numerous times before falling asleep, enveloped in her father's chair and watched over by her mother's portrait.

```*```*```*```

She stepped around her trunk the next morning in order to get to the kitchen. Once, the manor had had a large staff of house elves, but an ancestor of Anahid's had released them some time before. Only the Preserving Charms in the kitchen enabled her to have a breakfast of an apple, which she ate while walking through the gardens surrounding the building. She took her trunk up to her room, and after a shower and a change of clothes, Anahid sat at her dressing table, brushing her hair. She replaced her ring on her right hand, pulled her shirt out of her jeans, grabbed a jersey, and tried to psyche herself up for the floo trip to the Burrow.

```*```*```*```

The Weasley home was just as hectic as she remembered it. Molly greeted her with a hug, and helped her dust the soot from her clothes. After expressing her condolences for the death of Anahid's father, Molly directed her to where Bill was; in the field the Weasleys also owned, playing Quidditch with Charlie. No clues were forthcoming from her about Bill's 'big news,' so Anahid headed off to track him down and find out for herself.

The field was surrounded by trees, which kept it, and anyone on a broomstick, hidden from the view of the nearby muggle village. Anahid stood in the shelter of the trees, watching the two brothers play one on one Quidditch. She didn't know enough about the rules of the real game to be able to pick out the alterations made for the two-player version, but she couldn't see any bludgers.

Charlie spotted her first, on his way back to the centre of the field after Bill had scored. He waved, and scored himself while Bill was looking around.

"Who won?" she asked as the two landed beside her.

"I did of course." Charlie boasted. He tossed his broom to Bill and headed back down to the house, calling, "Teach the girl to fly," over his shoulder.

Bill offered her the broom. "You've got to joking," she said.

"Come on, one little flight."

"I wouldn't know how."

"You're kidding right." She looked at him. "Ok you're not kidding. How can you not know how to fly? Didn't you have lessons first year?"

"It didn't seem important at the time. That, and breaking my arm when I was four when I fell off a broomstick while Sirius was trying to teach me kind of put me off."

"Come on," he grabbed her hand. "I promise I won't let you fall."

"Oh alright," she agreed, "but not for long, and not too high."

"Deal." He sat further back on his broom, to make room for her to sit in front of him. Anahid sat down, gripping the handle tightly with both hands, just behind where his own hand rested.

"All set?" he asked, Anahid nodded and Bill kicked off, sending them soaring. Anahid screwed her eyes shut, her hands gripping the handle so tight her knuckles turned white. "Relax," his voice whispered just above her ear. He wrapped his free arm around her waist, "Trust me."

Cautiously Anahid opened one eye, then the other, looking down, she saw the ground fly past at a dizzying speed. "I think I'm going to be sick." She muttered.

"Nonsense; just breath."

"What good advice, because that's something I was so likely to forget." She clenched her teeth together as they turned. She took his advice though, inhaling deep breaths and looking straight ahead, she almost enjoyed herself.

"So what's your big news?" she asked as they completed their second circuit of the field.

"Hmm? Oh, I got the job at Gringotts. I'm going to be a curse breaker!"

"Really?" she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. "That's fantastic! The holidays have hardly started, and already you've got a job."

"I know, I applied before the exams, and when I got all of my N.E.W.T.s they couldn't wait to hire me."

"Do you think we could land now? I'd feel more comfortable talking on the ground." 

Bill just laughed and the broomstick descended.

"How's the manor?" he asked, in an attempted casual voice, as they walked back down to the house, both his and Charlie's brooms slung over his shoulder.

"Big and empty," she replied. "I found these in my father's desk." She handed him the letters from her parents. Any comments he was going to make were cut off by their arrival back at the house, and a yelling twin. He handed the letters back to her and went to put the brooms away in the shed. Anahid went to help Molly with lunch.

```*```*```*```

They were unable to get a quiet moment to talk to each other all afternoon. Anahid was helping Molly with Bill's celebratory dinner, or they were both involved in entertaining the younger family members.

```*```*```*```

During dinner, Molly reiterated Bill's invitation for Anahid to visit whenever she wanted.

"Don't say that," Anahid replied, "you'll never get rid of me." Still a pleased blush had crept over her cheeks, and she smiled.

Molly refused to let Anahid help with the dishes, and as Bill had taken the opportunity to steal her away, Charlie was stuck doing them.

```*```*```*```

"So?" Bill asked her when they were both settled at the top of the neighbouring hill.

"So you'll be leaving soon?"

"In a fortnight or so. But I was talking about you and you know it."

"It was a one word question." She let out a long breath. "I'm…I'm ok. Really," she added at his doubtful look. "I'm not as empty inside, I've forgiven him. He loved me." Wonder crept into her voice, "He loved me."

"What about the other letter?" he asked, looking across at her.

"From my mother? It's some good advice."

"Do you plan on taking it?"

"I'd like to, it's not as though I have a future to live in."

"Don't get all melodramatic on me." Bill cut in. "It doesn't suit you."

"I'm not being melodramatic, just realistic."

"Uh huh, you seem to confuse the two easily."

"Be nice." She admonished him, her smile taking the sting off the rebuke. "I just don't want to start anything I won't be able to finish," she said carefully, watching the setting sun.

Bill seemed to understand everything she wasn't saying because he quickly changed the subject. "I have two weeks left to be an irresponsible teenager," he said. "Any ideas?"

"When have you ever been irresponsible?" Anahid asked with a smile, the sombre mood of the moment before eagerly cast away.

```*```*```*```

Bill, who had turned eighteen back in April, got his Apparating license before he left. Anahid was over at the Burrow on just about all of the fourteen days before his departure. She helped him pack, unpack, and repack. Listened as he excitedly shared all the details of what he would be doing. Tried to relieve his fears of moving so far away from his family.

```*```*```*```

Time files when you're having fun, but it rockets past when you're trying to savour every moment, and avoid saying goodbye.

```*```*```*```

The day before Bill left, Anahid didn't go to the Burrow, he visited the manor. Anahid showed him around, then they both flooed to Hogwarts, it may have been the holidays but Anahid still had a potion to take. She wouldn't be there to say goodbye when he left, so Anahid had given him a parcel he had been forbidden from opening until he reached Egypt Bill placed a package on the table next to her sleeping form in the Hospital Wing. Neither ever said 'goodbye.'

```*```*```*```

When Anahid woke the next afternoon Bill was already seven hours gone. She opened the package he had left her and tried not to miss him too much. Enclosed in the brown paper which had covered the parcel was a photo of her and Bill, taken at Christmas, while they sat quietly together on the couch. She lay with her head on his lap reading her Summoning Charms book, he read the Daily Prophet while absent-mindedly stroking her hair. There was also a box of sugar quills and a letter, dated the day before, which it appeared he had written while she slept.

```*```*```*```

At about the same time as Anahid was opening her parcel in Britain, Bill was opening his in Egypt. It was a short trip from London to Cairo by portkey and Bill had already been shown around the wizarding section of the city, the Gringotts Acquisitions Division, and the small house he would be living in, paid for by the bank. After a meal, and a bath, Bill unpacked, and found Anahid's farewell gift. He opened it, curious to see what she had forbidden him from seeing until arriving at his new home.

Inside the small cardboard box were more things than should have fitted in there ordinarily. He pulled out a leather bound notebook and a new set of self-inking quills. A book entitled 'Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics for Dummies' and a small square box that held a thin, plain, band of silver, which fitted perfectly around the base of the third finger of his right hand.

```*```*```*```

Anahid spent more of her time at the Burrow than the manor, during the rest of the holidays. She watched Fred, George, Ron and Ginny while Molly took Charlie and Percy, who would be starting at the wizarding school that year, to get their Hogwarts supplies. She was adopted into the family with more ease than she would have imagined possible six months ago.

```*```*```*```

Bill wrote often to his mother and Charlie, both of whom happily shared their letters with the others. Anahid received one, two-page letter, wrapped around a sugar quill, a month. They arrived while she slept in the Hospital Wing. 

That was what Anahid remembered most about her sixth-year, waking in the Hospital Wing once a month to find a letter and a sugar quill waiting for her. It was also the year she told Charlie, Molly and Arthur about having Degenero Disease, Anahid told them before the start of the school year. She felt that, after they had welcomed her into their family so warmly, they deserved to know what they might have to watch her go through.

```*```*```*```

She spent Christmas with the Weasleys again that year. She had thought Bill was spending his Christmas in Egypt, so his arrival at the Burrow, midafternoon on the twenty-third of December came as a total surprise. They went to see the window displays in Diagon Alley again that year, and took the opportunity to spend several hours alone, in the Leaky Cauldron, catching up.

```*```*```*```

Christmas morning dawned grey, cold and miserable, out side at least. Inside it was bright, cheery and filled with the sounds of tearing paper. Anahid helped Molly with dinner, and everyone ate far too much. Bill had to go back to Egypt on Boxing Day, and this time Anahid listened to her mother, and kissed him. It was just as brief and chaste as when he had kissed her six months earlier, but it was her kissing him, and that made all the difference.

```*```*```*```

Charlie finished his final year at Hogwarts with a win over Slytherin to secure the Quidditch Cup, but a loss to them for the House Trophy. He got almost as many N.E.W.T.s as his brother had, but without working quite so hard. Anahid, for the sixth year in a row, finished top of her class.

```*```*```*```

Bill didn't come home that summer, the letters he sent his mother claimed he was too busy working, and studying. Charlie was home for a month before joining the Dragon Sanctuary in Romania. Anahid still spent most of her time at the Burrow, though its two main appeals weren't there. Bill had invited her to visit him in Cairo, but she had declined, the visit would have clashed with one of her appointments at the Hospital Wing.

```*```*```*```

Seventh-year started well for Anahid, she wasn't Head Girl, but then, she had never wanted to be. Unfortunately around December it took a down turn, her hands began to shake, just tremors at first, when she was tired. She declined the invitation to spend Christmas at the Burrow, she needed to study, begin revision, and practise casting spells with hands that shook. By Easter she had to wear glasses. She told none of this to Bill in the letters that she sent him. Remus she told, Charlie too, but she didn't tell Bill. 

Despite her deteriorating health Anahid passed all of her N.E.W.T.s and finished third in her year. She also passed her Apparating test, and happily didn't have to floo any more. 

```*```*```*```

She wasn't sure if it was her declining his invitation for her to visit him due to poor health, or if Molly or Charlie told him of her worsening condition, but Bill came home that summer, contrary to what he had said in his letters.

```*```*```*```

When Anahid saw him walk through the door and out into the Burrow's back garden where she sat, she expected him to yell, to reprimand her for not telling him how much sicker she was. He didn't. Instead he walked over, wrapped his arms around her, clutched her tight, and cried. Anahid's eyes were dry; she had shed all the tears she could over this already. Bill had been too busy holding her as she cried, being strong for her, to weep himself. Now it was his turn.

When his tears had stopped, Anahid drew back slightly. She noted his changed appearance. He had a tan now, and his hair was longer, not quite long enough to tie back, but getting there. He wore dragon-hide boots, and had a dragon fang earring in his left ear. She knew she looked different to the last time he had seen her. Now she wore glasses, rectangular lenses with black wire frames, in front of eyes lined with deep shadows. The lenses grew thicker every time she returned to Madam Pomfrey for a checkup, she still went once a month though she had stopped taking the potion when she had finished school. Her hands shook continually now, and her once slim frame, was thin.

"So…" She said quietly.

"So, I'm on leave for two weeks." He answered, repositioning them so he sat leaning against the tree, Anahid in front of him, sitting crosswise on his lap; head tucked in a perfect fit beneath his chin.

"I should have told you, huh." Her voice was softer than he remembered, quieter, as if even speaking sucked vital energy from her body.

"Yes," he agreed. "But it's too late for that now. It's just as bad to live in the past as the future."

"When did you get so wise?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist, seeking a more comfortable position.

"I've always been this wise," he replied, attempting his old, cheerful tone. "I just hid it so you mere mortals wouldn't feel overawed by my brilliance."

She laughed; it was a weak, breathy sound. "Egypt's made you cocky." She commented dryly.

"Britain's mad you sarcastic." He retorted.

They sat like that, wrapped around each other, holding the other tight, until Molly called them in dinner. Neither said the words that would have hurt them both. That they were sorry, one for staying away, the other for hiding the truth. That they were scared of what was going to happen, for themselves, but more for the other. That they loved each other in a way and depth neither could begin to describe.

```*```*```*```

They spent two weeks like that, near each other if they couldn't touch, silent more often than not, words falling far short. There was rarely one without the other, and not even Charlie commented when Bill left Anahid's room every morning, after a night spent sleeping, wrapped in each others arms, not bearing to be a part even to sleep.

The two had never been sadder at parting than when they were forced to at the end of Bill's two weeks leave. He promised to be home at Christmas and sooner if he could manage it.

```*```*```*```

AN: Please R&R, any comments are appreciated. The next chapter will be up soon, where in goodbyes are said.


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

AN: A brief warning for suggested slash at the end of this chapter, so weak you can only really tell it's there if you're looking for it I think, but I'm warning you all the same. I hope you'll read on regardless, this chapter contains some of my favourite scenes from the story.

In the months between Bill's departure in mid August and Christmas, Anahid's hands continued to shake, her eyesight continued to weaken and her ability to walk began to fail. Her health had faded quickly after the resistance to the potion had started, but a large reason for that was her discontinuing to take it. The symptoms had quickly reached the levels they would have been had she not taken the potion at all, but after that resumed their usual pace of development and affect.

So it was that by Christmas her eyesight had almost totally failed, and she no longer wore her glasses, they made little difference to the vague shadows, which was all she now saw. She could still walk, but with support. 

```*```*```*```

Anahid tried to enjoy what would, in all likelihood, be her last Christmas, but the Christmas spirit alluded her. Bill came home, like he had promised, and Charlie came too.

It was a much more subdued family that sat opening presents on Christmas Day that year. Only eight out of the ten people in the house sat in front of the tree that morning. Bill was never far from Anahid, and she hadn't woken at the early time that Christmas usually elicited. Again they spent every possible moment together; both knowing the end was drawing ever nearer. Anahid had refused to allow anyone to get her a gift that year, saying it would simply be a waste. The same rule applied to her nineteenth birthday, which occurred in early March. She, it seemed, was already waiting for the end. 

By the time of her birthday, both her eyes and legs had failed completely, and she hadn't been to the manor in months. Her hands shook so, that she was incapable of even the most basic magic. Still she held out, refusing to give in until Bill was with her again. He came home that summer, in early July, on another two weeks leave.

```*```*```*```

On the morning of the tenth day after he had come home, Bill carried Anahid outside to sit in the garden. It was a new routine of theirs for Anahid to lay down, head on Bill's lap, and listen while Bill read to her. That was exactly what they did that morning, Bill working his way through 'Crups, a Wizards Best Friend.' He ran his hand through her hair as he read, glancing down at her every now and then, watching the shadows from the tree they sat under play across her face. She looked so peaceful that it was only when he saw her hands resting, still, on her stomach that he knew it had happened. 

She had been right; she never did see her twentieth birthday. Anahid Freya Black died on the sixteenth of July 1990.

```*```*```*```

Anahid had made out her will before her hands first shook. She left 200 Galleons to each of the Weasley children, which were to be put aside in their own Gringotts bank vaults until their graduation from Hogwarts. To Molly and Arthur she gave 500 Galleons. Charlie received 300, and Bill the same. A few items were given to them, as well as others; for example, Bill got back his photo from Christmas 1986. The majority of the estate was left to Sirius, to be inherited only on successful repeal of the convictions he was sentenced to Azkaban for. Should he die before that occurred, the estate would pass to Remus Lupin.

She had also written letter to those important to her, to be distributed on her death. One, which she entrusted to Professor Dumbledore, would wait almost six years for delivery.

```*```*```*```

It was two am on the seventeenth of July 1993 when Bill woke, and found himself looking into eyes of a shade of blue he had only seen in one face before, the face that was looking down at him now, and it wasn't smiling.

"What do you think you're doing?" Anahid asked, as settled down on the edge of his bed. Any doubts he had had about the identity of this Anahid-appearing figure had disappeared when she spoke. Only one person could chastise him so completely in so few words. 

"I was sleeping," he replied, trying to hide his confusion in a flippant comment.

Anahid simply arched a black eyebrow at him. "That's not what I meant and you know it," she growled. "I never would have gone then if I thought it would affect you like this. This is why I didn't want to tell you in the first place." She rubbed her eyes, a habit she had when feeling particularly frustrated.

"What do you mean 'gone then.' Are you saying you had a choice?" he sat up in the bed, gazing at her intently, ignoring the part of his brain that said girls who had been dead for three years didn't pop into your bedroom at two am.

"Not the way you're thinking. I would have died sooner or later, sooner rather than later. I chose then because I was happy Bill. Lying under that tree, listening to you read, I was happy, and I wanted to go while I was happy, rather than just wither and fade away, finally passing over when I was weak and miserable."

He nodded; it made a sort of sense, especially if you knew Anahid. "Why are you here now then?" 

"To tell you to get your act together." She was back in 'angry being form another dimension' mode. 

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't Bill, If you did this would be much to easy, wouldn't it?" she paused, appearing to be collecting her thoughts, and Bill took the opportunity to reaquaint himself with a face he never thought he'd see again. "Stop that," she sighed. "This is weird enough without you staring at me like that."

"This is weird for you?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes. Now stop changing the subject." Another sigh, "Do you think I wanted to go?" she asked quietly. "Do you think I like watching you live without me? Dead yourself bar the fact your heart still beats."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked coolly. "Pretend nothing happened, that my life didn't end when yours did."

"But yours didn't Bill. You're still alive, with time a plenty still to spend. I'm still with you too; you just can't see me. I'm always there, and when your time comes, in the distant future, I'll be waiting for you. Provided," he knew what would come would undoubtedly be a list of demands. "Provided you live Bill. It's a pretty poor way to remember someone who died before she had a real chance to taste life by sitting here, shutting life out. Live Bill, live and love."

"No!" he protested.

"Yes Bill. Follow your heart." She took hold of his hand. "I'll be waiting for you, when your time comes, if you want still me to be."

"Of course I…"

"Stop." She cut him off. "Don't make a promise now you could live to regret. Just live." She lent forward and pressed her lips against his forehead.

```*```*```*```

When Bill woke the next morning, he had the worst hangover of his life. He was prepared to put Anahid's appearance down to the alcohol he routinely consumed in copious amounts, especially on the sixteenth of July. Though, he thought, just because she was an alcohol-induced hallucination, didn't mean she didn't have some good advice. Maybe it was time for a change in his lifestyle, if nothing else it would get his mum, and Charlie, off his back.

```*```*```*```

The rain didn't thunder, pelt, or pour. Instead it fell as a steady drizzle, soaking the ground, the man, and turning the gravestones a dull grey. It ran in rivulets over his face, dripping from his jaw to run off his already soaked robes. He clutched the parchment in his hand, charm protected from the rain, it was stopped from turning to a soggy mess.

The owl had brought it earlier that morning, pecking loudly on the window until Remus got up and let it in. It swooped down and landed on Sirius's barely conscious form. With no respect for one who had been up until the early hours of the morning celebrating his acquittal, it demanded Sirius' attention.

His tired fingers fumbled with the tie securing the letter to the bird's leg. It pecked at his hands, trying to hurry him. Finally he managed to undo the knot and, released of its duty, the owl disappeared back out the window, into the rain.

Sirius immediately recognised the handwriting, which, in a looping hand, addressed the letter to him. Why Albus Dumbledore should be sending him a letter, when he had spoken to him only the day before, was beyond the comprehension of Sirius's sleep fogged mind.

He opened the envelope and removed another sealed parchment, and a short note from Albus reading simply,

Sirius,

This was entrusted to me a number of years ago, by a young woman especially dear to you. She asked me to pass it on to you, should the events that occurred yesterday come to pass.

Albus Dumbledore

Sirius handed Albus's letter to Remus before opening the next piece of parchment. In a discernibly more female hand was written,

Sirius

That you are reading this means you have had all of your convictions repealed. I could hardly be happier were I there to share the celebrations with you. It also means you are now the proud owner of Orion Manor, and what else remains of our father's estate.

There is much else I would wish to say here, but the words allude me.

May your freedom bring you much joy.

Forever your loving sister,

Anahid Black

Sirius noticed for the first time a second page to his sister's letter. Handing the coversheet to a waiting Remus, he saw what was written at the top of the second page and immediately screwed it up and tossed it across the room to collide with the far wall. Without a word he stalked out the door, and through into the bathroom.

Remus read through Anahid's letter, then finding the other piece of parchment, smoothed it out and skimmed the last will and testament of Anahid Black. With a sigh he went into the bathroom after Sirius. He found him sitting on the edge of the bath, face in his hands.

"She's dead."

"Yes." It wasn't a question, but Remus answered anyway.

"How long?"

"Six years this July."

"Six years! And no one felt like telling me? Didn't I deserve to know?" he raised his head to glare at Remus with red-rimmed eyes.

"You had so much else to deal with, we weren't sure how you'd react." He knelt down in front of Sirius. "We felt it best for you to think she didn't want anything to do with you, until the acquittal at least."

"We?"

"Albus and I."

Sirius nodded dumbly. "How?" he asked finally.

"The Degenero Disease. With the help of Poppy and Severus, she was able to control the symptoms, until it built up a resistance. She held out for another year or so after that. I'm sorry Siri."

"Where is she…she…"

"By your mum and dad." Remus left him alone after that; there was nothing else he could do. Sirius came out some time later, he walked, dressed, past Remus, who was in the kitchen, and out into the rain, then he Disapparated.

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Standing there, Sirius let his tears mix with the rain. The gravestone in front of him read:

Anahid Black

1971-1990

Beloved daughter, sister, and friend

May she know in death the peace she strove so hard to find in life

Yet he couldn't picture her lying there, beneath the ground. Standing in the unceasing rain he remembered.

```*```*```*```

A twelve-year-old Sirius Black looked down at the bundle in his father's arms and tried to hate the dark haired babe within. This, this, girl had taken away his mother, his beautiful, wonderful, magical mother. He should hate her for it, but as he looked down at her, his pale blue eyes met her dark blue, and he couldn't do it. He couldn't hate her. Instead, he felt sorry for this small being who would never know their mother, and whose father, though holding her, couldn't bring himself to look at her.

```*```*```*```

Again he checked the floor for any remaining shards. Every time he thought he had cleaned them all up another glinted in the morning sun. A good thing the nanny was on holiday, or they would have lost another one. 

Who'd have though that his little sister, his little Ana, could have done that sort of magic, and at only three too. Shattering every piece of glass in the kitchen, just because no one had made her breakfast yet. Although Sirius had to admit, he'd been so wrapped up in Remus's letter, he hadn't even noticed she was in the room until the window broke. The window, the glasses, the bowls, even the glass doors of the upper cupboards; they'd all shattered. And he'd spent the morning cleaning up glass shards and repairing it all. At least now it appeared he had got everything, which meant there was only one more thing to do. Find Ana and tell her how incredibly proud he was that a little kid like her had worked magic that strong. Hell, he might even get a laugh out of her.

```*```*```*```

Sirius paced the hallway outside Ana's room, waiting for Madam Pomfrey to come out. At least the screaming had stopped. Who'd have thought she could have slipped off a broom so quickly? And break her arm from only five feet up. He was just glad he'd been able to contact Madam Pomfrey with his frantic fireplace call.

Finally the door opened and Madam Pomfrey's head poked out. "Sirius, you'd better come in here." The tone wasn't as gruff and scolding as he had expected, which was either a good sign, or a very bad one.

Four year old Anahid was sitting up in her bed, her right arm bandaged, she stopped sucking her sugar quill long enough to smile at her brother, her eyes still rimmed with red.

"I've mended her arm, you shouldn't even be able to tell it was broken in a few days."

Of course, Sirius thought, once Madam Pomfrey healed something, you'd never think it had been broken, cut, severed, or covered in little purple toadstools.

"But I think there's something you should know." She paused, different emotions flitting across her face. "I think your sister has a condition called Degenero Disease. Some tests will have to be done, so we know for sure. I only suspect because her arm was so difficult to heal. It's very rare, but I've met two people who suffered from it in my career. I'm sorry Sirius."

He hadn't understood her sorrow then, but after the tests came back positive, and Remus found that book all about it, he had understood then. His sister was going to die, far too early and in a way that was slow, debilitating, and crushing. For the first time since his mother had died, Sirius Black wept. Enclosed in the comforting arms of Remus Lupin and James Potter, he mourned a sister who was yet to die.

```*```*```*```

Kneeling in the mud in the grey cloaked cemetery, Sirius Black remembered and mourned. He wept for a girl who looked so like a mother she had never known, who had known pain and grief her whole life, who had lost her brother right when she needed him the most. 

Fingertips stroked his cheek; lips pressed to his forehead in the way she had always kissed him goodbye, forgivenesses and farewells were whispered in his ear. But when he looked up, searching for a sign of the shade, nothing disturbed the grey solitude bar a gentle breeze stirring the petals of the single white rose he had placed on top of Anahid's gravestone.

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AN: Pease R&R, any comments are appreciated. 

I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Yes the ending is sad, I have had several people tell me it made them cry, but it had to be. The story demanded I put in the right ending, and I did, no matter how much I wanted a happy ever after one. At least there's some hope for them in the after life, if they so desire.


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